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Got A Hobby? Might Be A Smart
Professional Move
by MAANVI SINGH
April 17, 2014 3:46 PM ET
Getty Images
Maybe you paint, keep a journal or knit. Or maybe you play bass in a
punk rock band.
Whatever hobby you have, keep at it. A little study published this
week suggests that having a creative outlet outside the office might
help people perform better at work.
Psychologists from San Francisco State University found that the
more people engaged in their hobbies, the more likely they were to
come up with creative solutions to problems on the job. And no
matter what the hobby was, these people were also more likely to go
out of their way to help co-workers.
The findings were published Wednesday in the Journal of
Occupational and Organizational Psychology.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/04/17/303769531/could-those-weekend-pottery-clas... 6/10/2014
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"We found that in general, the more you engage in creative activities,
the better you'll do," says Kevin Eschleman, an assistant professor
of psychology at San Francisco State and the study's lead author.
The researchers surveyed about 350 people with a variety of jobs
(and a variety of hobbies) about what they did in their free time and
also asked about their behavior at work. Those who said they
engaged fairly often in a creative activity scored 15 to 30 percent
higher on performance rankings than those who engaged in creative
activities only ccasionally.
The researchers also surveyed a second group of 90 U.S. Air Force
captains. The psychologists knew that these folks were already
trained to solve tough problems, and help others — so they wanted
to see if having a hobby affected their performance in any way. In
addition to asking the officers about their own work performance, the
researchers checked performance reviews from the captains' coworkers and bosses.
It turned out that for both groups, having a creative outlet boosted
work performance. And that's after the scientists took into account
other things that might influence performance — like personality.
"Some people have a personality that's more creative," Eschleman
tells Shots. To judge how naturally creative participants were, the
researchers asked them, for example, to rate (on a scale from 1 to 7)
how open they are to new experiences and how much they value art.
The study only confirms that having a creative outlet and being
creative at work are correlated, Eschleman says. He can't really say
if one causes the other.
But, he says, he suspects that behaviors at work and home reinforce
each other. "It's very possible that those who are performing better at
their jobs also have more energy to pursue these creative activities,"
he says. And, in turn, participating in creative activities may help
people feel more energized and engaged at work. "You almost kind
of spiral in a positive direction," he says.
And while the paper doesn't pin down exactly how or why your
weekend forays into the wonderful world of soap-making might help
your professional life, Eschleman says it's likely because hobbies
can help people learn more about their own strengths and
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/04/17/303769531/could-those-weekend-pottery-clas... 6/10/2014